The numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should be a wake-up call. As many as 41% of young, black men in Milwaukee County who have sex with men are infected with HIV.

The numbers should cause community leaders to step up to renew awareness about the high risks of contracting HIV. It's also time for churches - pillars in the black community - to break their relative silence on the issue, though black churches have been on board more now than in the past on this issue.

The CDC was in Milwaukee late last year because Milwaukee was seeing a dramatic rise in the number of HIV cases among young, black men who have sex with men. There also was a sharp increase in syphilis cases; syphilis infection increases susceptibility to HIV.